Chapter 208 The Secret of the Zhao Family
In the past, Zhao Wenchang was often away serving in the army and rarely came home. After getting married, there was still no news of children. Many people in the village gossiped behind his back, saying that the family line would end without anyone.
Now that they heard that someone had given birth to a big, healthy son and had become a high-ranking official in the capital, their minds immediately started to wander.
In the afternoon, the once quiet Zhao family's gate suddenly became as lively as a market.
The villagers, who usually avoided the Zhao family like the plague and would make excuses to borrow even a small amount of salt, were now all smiles, carrying baskets of eggs, packets of brown sugar, and freshly picked vegetables from their own fields, and were desperately squeezing into the yard.
"Oh my, Aunt Ma! You're so healthy!"
Aunt Liu from next door, shamelessly squeezing to the front, carried a basket of slightly wilted greens. Her face was all wrinkled from smiling, and she said obsequiously, "I knew it! Wenchang has always been a promising child. He has a full forehead and a square jaw; he's got the makings of a high-ranking official! Look, it's come true! These are freshly picked vegetables from our own plot of land; I brought them here especially for you to try!"
Ma Jinhua sat in the middle of the room, leaning on her cane, coldly watching the people in the courtyard whose "faces" changed faster than turning the pages of a book.
She didn't get up, just looked at everyone, and then snorted heavily through her nose.
"Trying something new?" Ma Jinhua scoffed, her eyes falling on Aunt Liu's basket of wilted vegetables. "Aunt Liu, if I remember correctly, last month my little Hua wanted to go to your field to ask for some scallions, and you chased after her for half a mile, cursing and saying that my family was destined to be poor and couldn't afford expensive vegetables. So, today these vegetables aren't expensive?"
Aunt Liu's face instantly turned bright red. She stood there awkwardly, unsure whether to go forward or retreat.
Ma Jinhua had no intention of letting them off the hook. She slammed her cane on the ground with a loud thud, startling everyone.
Her gaze swept over several women in the crowd who were shrinking back, and her voice rose several octaves: "And you lot! Who was it that was gossiping by the well, saying that my Wenchang had done something wrong and was afraid to come back? Saying that my family line was going to end? Huh? Now that my Wenchang has become successful, you're all acting like relatives? All acting like good people?"
The old lady stood up straight, pointed at the gate and shouted, "Take all your things back! When the Zhao family was poor, we never ate a single grain of rice from you, and now that we're rich, we don't need a bite! My Wenchang is a government official, he does important things, he doesn't accept gifts! Don't bring this junk to dirty my house! Show them out!"
He delivered a scathing rebuke, leaving everyone red-faced and slinking out of the room, looking utterly humiliated.
Aunt Liu was so flustered that she tripped over the threshold as she turned around and fell flat on her face. The rotten vegetable leaves in her hand flew all over the ground, which made a group of children watching outside the door burst into laughter.
As night deepened and the hustle and bustle subsided, the noise and excitement faded away.
Under the dim light, the Zhao family began packing their luggage.
Ma Jinhua closed all the doors and windows tightly, her expression becoming extremely serious.
She called Zhao Shan over and said in a low voice, "Zhao Shan, packing some old clothes to go to the capital is the important thing, but there is something I must bring to my dear grandson and granddaughter-in-law."
Seeing his mother's solemn expression, Zhao Shan seemed to guess what was going on. His expression tightened, and he stammered, "Mother, you mean..."
Ma Jinhua nodded: "Back then, the world was in chaos, and all sorts of monsters and demons roamed the streets. To save our family, we had to pretend to be poor for decades and endure hardship. But now the world has changed, the sun has risen, and Wenchang has made great strides. Those things should finally see the light of day. They were the wealth that our Zhao family had risked our lives for generations, and they were meant to be left to our descendants."
Zhao Shan was stunned and hadn't come to his senses when his mother hit him on the calf with her cane: "What are you standing there for? Get the tools ready! Keep it down, don't alert those ungrateful bastards in the village."
On a dark and windy night, the entire Liu Family Village seemed to be soaked in ink, and even the barking of dogs could not be heard.
The three of them sneaked out the door.
Zhao Shan carried a hoe and walked ahead, while Zhao Xiaohua carried a kerosene lamp. Half of the glass cover was deliberately covered with a black cloth, allowing only a few dim yellow rays of light to illuminate the path beneath their feet.
Ma Jinhua, leaning on her cane, walked unsteadily through the middle.
As I climbed up the back hill, a cold wind whistled down my collar.
Arriving at the old, crooked elm tree beside the ancestral grave, Ma Jinhua stopped, took a deep breath, and tapped the ground forcefully with the end of her cane: "Right here, dig three feet down, don't deviate."
Without saying a word, Zhao Shan spat into his palm, rubbed his hands together, and picked up his hoe to get to work.
He dared not use too much force, afraid of making too much noise, so he could only dig silently, one stroke at a time. The damp soil flew out, and Zhao Xiaohua squatted to the side with her neck hunched, her eyes darting around, afraid that someone would pop out of the grass.
After digging for about half an hour, there was a crisp "clang" as the hoe hit something hard.
"Stop!" Ma Jinhua shouted in a low voice.
Zhao Shan quickly threw down his hoe, lay down on the edge of the pit, and frantically dug away the loose soil with his calloused hands.
Two heavy camphor wood chests, bound with thick iron chains, were revealed.
Although it has been buried underground for many years, this camphor wood chest was originally coated with more than a dozen layers of tung oil and wrapped in oilcloth. Now, it only looks a little dirty on the outside, but the inside is intact.
It took the three of them a tremendous amount of effort to carry the two incredibly heavy boxes back home without anyone noticing.
Ma Jinhua took out a small, rusty key from her inner pocket, tremblingly inserted it into the keyhole, and with a "click," the lock opened.
Zhao Shan forcefully lifted the lid of the box.
Under the dim light, Zhao Xiaohua looked at the things inside and couldn't help but gasp.
Ma Jinhua glanced at it briefly, fiddled with it a couple of times to make sure nothing was missing, then slammed the lid shut: "Alright, stop looking. Tomorrow morning, we'll take these things to the capital!"
...
The next day, before dawn, the three of them boarded an oxcart to the county town, and then squeezed onto a green train heading north.
The carriage was a complete mess, packed with people, and the aisle was crammed with burlap sacks and baskets.
Zhao Shan, like a protective old dog guarding its food, braced the two heavy camphor wood chests tightly under the seat, his legs spread wide to protect them from being bumped. This made the already narrow aisle even more difficult to walk through.
"Hey, whose stuff is this? Taking up so much space! Doesn't it make people trip and fall?" A man wearing a polyester shirt walked by, tripped, and almost fell. He turned around and cursed, "Bringing so much junk into the city, doesn't it feel heavy!"
Zhao Shan shrank back, not daring to utter a sound, and simply kicked the box further inside.
Ma Jinhua closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep, and gripped her cane tightly in her hand, looking like she didn't want to talk to anyone.
After driving for most of the day, the passengers were getting sleepy from the swaying and bumping. Suddenly, a commotion came from the other end of the carriage.
"Routine check! Open all bags! Check for contraband!"
Several uniformed train police officers walked over with stern faces.
There was a guy selling Tibetan tobacco in the front row just now, he was caught and fined, and he's still crying and begging for forgiveness right now.
The train police officer quickly approached, his stern gaze falling on the two large suitcases completely covered with black cloth at Zhao Shan's feet. He pointed his baton at them and asked, "Whose suitcases are these? What's inside? Open them and take a look!"
Passengers around, eager to watch the spectacle, craned their necks.
Just then, Zhao Xiaohua hurriedly stood up.
Her sun-darkened face was plastered with a kind and ingratiating smile. She deftly pulled a package of unopened Hongtashan cigarettes from her floral cloth pocket, along with a few nationally valid grain coupons.
Without waiting for the officer to accept it, she shoved it into the hands of the lead police officer, shouting in her thick local accent, "Hey comrade, comrade, you've worked hard! We're on our way to Beijing to visit relatives! My son is a high-ranking official in Beijing, and we just had a big, healthy grandson. My mother is overjoyed!"
The train police officer frowned, wanting to decline.
Zhao Xiaohua wasn't about to let him refuse. She subtly blocked others' view and lowered her voice, forcing a smile, "This box contains nothing but nourishment for new mothers! Walnuts and red dates from the mountains, and a few cleaned old hens! You know, it's hot today, and to prevent the smell from spoiling, my mother specially sealed it with several layers of oilcloth and salted it. If we opened it, the smell of raw chicken would probably knock out half the carriage. We don't want to cause trouble for the company, do we?"
The train police officer squeezed the cigarette pack in his hand; these cigarettes weren't cheap. Looking up at the family of three, the older one had gray hair, and the other two seemed honest and unassuming, not like troublemakers.
Furthermore, having heard that they were going to the capital to deliver gifts to high-ranking officials, it was better to avoid trouble.
The train police officer's expression softened a bit. He discreetly put the cigarette into his pocket and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, alright, since it's food, don't open it, so as not to make a mess of the carriage. But this thing is too big, so don't block the way, move it further inside."
"Hey! Hey! Thank you, comrade! Thank you, comrade!" Zhao Xiaohua nodded and bowed repeatedly, her clothes soaked with cold sweat.
After a series of close calls, the train finally came to a stop at Beijing Railway Station.
As soon as they got off the bus, the heat wave and the crowd almost separated the three of them.
People were everywhere, and the loudspeakers on the radio were crackling and blaring.
Zhao Shan carried two heavy woven bags on his back, one in front of the other, and was also tightly holding a camphor wood box in his arms, while Zhao Xiaohua was holding another one.
Ma Jinhua wasn't idle either; leaning on her crutches, she had to help look after two suitcases. The three of them, dressed in drab, dusty clothes, along with their pile of heavy, unfashionable luggage, looked out of place in the crowd.
Several city girls with curly hair and wearing dresses moved aside in disgust, covering their noses with handkerchiefs.
A young man in a hurry was riding a bicycle with a 28-inch handlebar. The handlebar accidentally bumped into Zhao Shan, who lost his balance and stumbled.
Instead of apologizing, the young man glared at him and yelled, "Are you blind? What are you doing blocking the way, you country bumpkin! You smell like dirt, go back to your village!"
Zhao Shan was scolded until his face turned red, but he didn't dare to talk back easily, for fear of causing trouble for Zhao Wenchang.
Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out at the exit, and the crowd automatically parted to make way for each other.
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